System and method for configuring cluster of virtualization network functions

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system for configuring a cluster of virtualization network functions (VNFs) includes an infrastructure driver configured to register virtualized infrastructure managers (VIMs) of multiple sites distributed across a network, a monitoring tool configured to collect monitoring information through the registered VIMs, a request queue configured to receive a clustering request message, a network functions virtualization (NFV) embedder configured to define a resource requirement necessary for cluster creation using the monitoring information according to the clustering request message, a policy manager configured to form a clustering template according to the resource requirement, and a clustering engine configured to transmit a request for configuring a cluster to the VIMs according to the clustering template.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system, including a CPU coupled to a memory for configuring a cluster of virtualization network functions (VNFs), the system comprising:
 an infrastructure driver configured to register a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) of multiple sites distributed across a network; 
 a monitoring tool configured to collect monitoring information comprising monitoring information related to computing resources, network resources and VM internal monitoring information through the registered VIM; 
 a request queue configured to receive a clustering request message; 
 a network functions virtualization (NFV) embedder configured to define a resource requirement necessary for cluster creation using the monitoring information according to the clustering request message; 
 a policy manager configured to form a clustering template comprising a number of active mode VNFs, a number of standby mode VNFs, and a VIM to be deployed according to the resource requirement; and 
 a clustering engine configured to transmit a request for configuring a cluster to the VIMs according to the clustering template, 
 wherein the computing resources and network resources include available capacity, used capacity, free capacity, bandwidth, and error information of a specific sites and a network, 
 wherein the VM internal monitoring information includes state information and function information of a VM, 
 wherein the resource requirement is a boundary of a VNF deployable according to the available capacity, the used capacity, the free capacity, the bandwidth, and the error information of the specific sites and the network, 
 wherein the cluster is composed of at least one of active mode VNF-active mode VNF and active mode VNF-standby mode VNF by using the VNFs already generated or to be generated, 
 wherein the policy manager configures the number of active mode VNFs to be greater than the number of standby mode VNFs when it is determined from the state information of the virtual machine that utilization of computer resources and network resources is primarily required, 
 wherein the policy manager configures the number of active mode VNFs to be greater than the number of standby mode VNFs when it is determined from the function information of the virtual machine that utilization of computer resources and network resources is primarily required and 
 wherein the policy manager configures the number of standby mode VNFs to be greater than the number of active mode VNFs when it is determined from the function information of the virtual machine that utilization of computer resources and network resources is not relatively urgent. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the cluster includes VNFs distributed to the VIMs. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 2 , wherein the cluster further includes a load balancer configured to distribute a traffic load in the cluster. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 2 , wherein the cluster further includes a fault handler configured to perform recovery and service function replacement in the cluster. 
     
     
       5. A method of configuring a cluster of virtualization network functions (VNFs), the method comprising:
 registering a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) of multiple sites distributed across a network; 
 collecting monitoring information comprising monitoring information related to computing resources, network resources and VM internal monitoring information through the registered VIM; 
 receiving a clustering request message; 
 defining a resource requirement necessary for cluster creation using the monitoring information according to the clustering request message; 
 configuring a clustering template comprising a number of active mode VNFs, a number of standby mode VNFs, and a VIM to be deployed according to the resource requirement; and 
 transmitting a request for configuring a cluster to the VIMs according to the clustering template, 
 wherein the computing resources and network resources include available capacity, used capacity, free capacity, bandwidth, and error information of a specific sites and a network, 
 wherein the VM internal monitoring information includes state information and function information of a VM, 
 wherein the resource requirement is a boundary of a VNF deployable according to the available capacity, the used capacity, the free capacity, the bandwidth, and the error information of the specific sites and the network, 
 wherein the configuring of the clustering template includes: 
 configuring the number of active mode VNFs to be greater than the number of standby mode VNFs when it is determined from the state information of the virtual machine that utilization of computer resources and network resources is primarily required; 
 configuring the number of active mode VNFs to be greater than the number of standby mode VNFs when it is determined from the function information of the virtual machine that the utilization of the computer resources and the network resources is primarily required; and 
 configuring the number of standby mode VNFs to be greater than the number of active mode VNFs when it is determined from the function information of the virtual machine that the utilization of the computer resources and the network resources is not relatively urgent. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the cluster includes VNFs distributed to the VIMs, a load balancer configured to distribute a traffic load in the cluster, and a fault handler configured to perform recovery and service function replacement in the cluster.